Spindle



H. A. TIFFANY.

SPlNDLE. APPLICATION FILED MAYH,

Patented May 17, 1921.

INVENTO i Home? .Tifi 0m n WITNESS:

a q/Jl.

ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATS .HOMER A. rrrranr,'or r ArEnsoiv, new JERSEY.

SPINDLE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOMER A. TIFFANY, a

citizen of the United States, residing at,

Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spindles, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple and reliable means for holding a spindle against movement axially inits bearing, and moreparticularly to construct the said means so that the spindle may at will be removed from the bearing, avoiding the usual expedient employed in spindles used for spinningand the like and consisting ofa hook-shaped catch on the spindle rail or equivalent. adapted to .be turned or in someway moved into locking engagement with a flange on the spindle (usually on its whirl), which expedient is objectionable in that the flange-adds load to the spindle and the catch forms an undesirable projection on the rail or equivalent.

I have illustrated my invention byreference to a spinning spindle,

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing showing the spindle and its housing or bolster provided with the present improvement partly in elevation and partly in vertical section; and

Fig. 2 being a sectional view on line 2-2,

'Fig. 1.

a is the spindle and 7) its whirl, which in the present case is shown plain, to wit, without the usual flange alluded to above.

0 is the housing or bolster for the spindle, the bearing for the spindle being indicated at d and being a step-bearing. Within the bearing thespindle is circumferentially reduced, forming an upwardly facing stopshoulder at e. v

The housing is enlarged at f toform: a base to rest on the spindle rail or equivalent, as the arm 9 projecting from the rail (not shown), to which it is secured by the clamping action of said base and a nut h screwed on the reduced threaded lower end i of the housing; this, however, is immaterial.

The housing has adjoining the bearing an interior stop-shoulder 70 arranged relatively reverse to the stop-shoulder e.

Between the stop-shoulders and contained in the housing is a detent-device Z, preferably of the rolling type, being here a hardened ball such as is used in ordinary ball-bearings. In the example illustrated,

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Application filed May 14, 1920. Serial No. 381,298.

Patented Ma the detent-device, which bears against both shoulders at once when the spindle is moved in the direction in which its stop-shoulder 6 would approach stop-shoulder 7a- 6., raised), positively blocks-such movement of the spindle, the housing having'means-to hold the ball in this tion, thus:

A removable part of the housing is a screw-plug m and a' yielding partof such housing is a spiral spring n arranged inward of and seated at one end againstthe plug in axial alinement therewith, pressing at its other end against the ball, the spring being arranged in a bore which at its outer end is positive blocking posiclosed by the plug. This bore, 0, is formed so as to produce with the spindle an up: wardly-pointing acuteangle, terminating at its upper end at the bearing (Z, and its terminus forms the aforesaid stop-shoulder 79.

Said stop-shoulder, which is substantially perpendicular to the spindle in the present instance, extends outwardlyfrom the latter only so far that the adjoining part 10 of the bore becomes a seat or abutment for the detent-device which, when-it abuts the stopshoulder, is prevented by such seat from movement from the spindle in a direction substantially perpendicular thereto. In the present instance, as indicated, the ball positively blocks the upward movement of the spindle as an incident, for instance, of dofi'- ing; I do not wish to be limited, however, to the blocking being positive in character.

In order to permit the ball to be withdrawn from the blocking position, especially I where, as here assumed, it is a positively blocking relation that obtains, I provide the housing with an aperture 9 which leads from the exterior thereof downwardly to a point over the ball; this aperture may be enlarged at its upper end to form an oil well, so that it serves in lubricating thespindle. When it becomes necessary to remove the spindle for any purpose from its bearing the aperture serves to admit a wire or equivalent implement for applying against the ball the pressure necessary to depress it out of interposed relation to the shoulders e and 70. r I

It is preferable that the detent-devlce be a ball or equivalent rolling or anti-friction element so that when it acts to resist the upward movement of the spindle, as 1n dofiing, it will do so with the minimum amount of binding.

In forming the bore the terminus thereof is preferably left restricted to sufficiently less diameter than that of the ball, as indicated at r in Fig. 2, so that the ball does not contact with (and thus add resistance to the rotation of) the spindle, which it actually never engages'except at its shoulder e. This isaccomplished through forming the bore (which in the example is cylindrical and is drilled) at an incline to the bearing d, driving in the drill until it breaks through into the bore but stopping the drill before it is exposed for its full diameter at the bore.

I do not wish to be'limited to any of the details hereinbefore alluded to except as they are specified in the appended claims, what I claim being 1. In combination, a spindle having a circumferential stop-shoulder, a housing structure having abearing for the spindle and also an upwardly reaching bore terminating at said bearing and at its terminus forming a stop-shoulder relatively reverse to the first stop-shoulder, and a detent-device in said bore occupying a position where it is interposed between and is adapted to bear on said shoulders, said bore near its said terminus preventing movement of said device from said position in a direction substantially perpendicular to the spindle and the housing structure having elastic means holding the detent-device in said position and also having a downwardly reaching aperture leading from the exterior of the housing to the terminal portion of the bore and adapted to admit an implement for displacing said device in the bore and from the terminal toward the opposite end of the bore.

2. In combination, a spindle having a circumferential stop-shoulder, ahousing structure having a bearing for the spindle and also a bore terminating at said bearing and at its terminus forming a stop-shoulder relatively reverse to the first stop-shoulder, and a detent-device in said bore occupying a position where it is interposed between and is adapted to bear on said shoulders, said bore having its terminus formed relatively restricted and limiting the movement of the detent device toward the spindle and the housing structure having means normally holding the detent-device in said position.

3. In combination, a spindle having a circumferentially reduced portion and at one side of said reduced portion a'circumferential stop-shoulder, a housing structure having a bearing for the spindle and also a bore terminating at said bearing and opposite the reduced portion of the spindle and at its terminus forming a stop-shoulder relatively reverse to the first stop shoulder, and a detent device movable in said bore to a position vwhere it is interposed between and is adapted to bear on said shoulders,

said housing structure having means nor HOMER A. TIFFANY. 

